This is the dramatic moment terrified hostages ran for their lives after the siege at the Paris kosher deli ended with four other captives and the gunmen killed during the melee.

The Islamic militant had taken people, including women and children, captive and was threatening to kill them if police attempted to storm the Charlie Hebdo terrorists who, at the time, were engaged in a similar standoff with police on the eastern outskirts of the city.

An Israeli government official said 15 hostages were rescued while French president Francois Hollande confirmed that four people were killed.

Today's hostage taker Amedy Coulibaly - who was killed in the raid - was also responsible for the fatal shooting of a policewoman yesterday. It has now been suggested this attack may have been an aborted attempt to attack a Jewish school.

Scroll down for video

A victim of the siege in eastern Paris today is seen lying on the floor near the entrance to the supermarket after four hostages were killed

An armed police officer with a dog stands guard close to the entrance where a man's body lies on the floor after a raid on the kosher shop

A woman runs from the Paris kosher grocery store in tears as she is led away by French police after officers stormed the building today

A man clutches a small boy close as they flee the Hyper Cacher store where they were held hostage today (left) as a woman runs from the building in tears (right)

One woman who visited the Kosher shop described its manager Michel Emsalem as a 'kind' and 'patient' man.

Latifa Benjamaa, 37, said: 'He is kind, nice and polite. He is not someone who cares about religion. I often went to shop there and I'm a Muslim,' she said.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Share

While it remained unclear whether the manager was involved in the incident, she added: 'This has nothing to do with religion. You are not allowed to kill in my religion. These men had an objective. These people are not doing this for Allah.'

Mrs Benjamaa said she feared people would begin rioting in the street.

She said: 'Now they are going to be repercussions. There will be war on the streets. Everyone is going to fear everyone. Before, things were fine.'

Police crowd one of the entrances to the supermarket before a burst of flames explodes, while officers hold up their riot shields as protection

Running for the lives, the hostages holed up in the grocery store for most of today included young families, women and children

A mother can only express her relief as she clutches her young son as a partner puts up his thumb to signal that the young family are okay

One of the injured hostages is carried from the supermarket on a stretcher as medics quickly attempt to treat them for their injuries

Paramedics are on the scene to treat injured hostages following the raid where it is believed at least four hostages have been killed

Police officers protect themselves with riot shields as a fiery blast explodes at the entrance to the supermarket in Porte de Vincennes

It is reported that at least one of the police officers was injured in the blast and six explosions were heard at the Jewish supermarket today

Armed police swarm the entrances and exits to the Hyper Cache in eastern Paris after several shoppers were held hostage for several hours

Officers stormed the supermarket minutes after two brothers responsible for the Charlie Hebdo magazine massacre were killed at a second siege on the outskirts of Paris

A man carrying a small child is seen fleeing from the ordeal moments after police stormed the kosher grocery store in eastern Paris

The hostages, pictured as they escape the building, were just two of many who were seen to have survived the ordeal

The man is pictured in another shot carrying the small child in his arms, while the kosher grocery behind him remains illuminated

Members of the French special forces escort a number of hostages from inside the store moments after a series of explosions were heard

Hostages are pictured piling out of the building after terrorist Coulibaly was left dead in the dramatic confrontation

Pictured is a person being taken away from the scene on a stretcher after four hostages were killed in the incident

The streets surrounding the siege are filled with ambulances and police cars in the minutes following the dramatic raid

French police named the hostage taker as Amedy Coulibaly (right). Police also named Hayat Boumeddiene (left) as helping him. However, it is no longer clear whether she was involved

Earlier today, as news of the hostage situation broke, police ordered all shops in Paris' famed Jewish district to be immediately closed.

The mayor's office in Paris announced the closures of shops along the Rosiers street in Paris' Marais neighbourhood, in the heart of the tourist district and about a kilometre away from the offices of newspaper Charlie Hebdo where 12 people were killed on Wednesday.

A 20-year-old student was among the hostages taken at the kosher shop in Paris. The young woman, whose name remains unknown, called her uncle who works nearby from the basement of the building where she was being held.

Earlier reports that there was a serious incident developing near the Trocadero in central Paris were incorrect - it remains open and running after what was a false alarm.

The siege at the grocery store occurred after the Charlie Hebdo killers in Dammartin-en-Goele found themselves holed up with a hostage at a business premises further north - and were believed to have made contact with an associate.

Police immediately scrambled phone signals in the area – but not before the killers were able to make their call.

It was feared that Said Kouachi and his brother Cheriff contacted Amedy Coulibaly – and possibly ordered him to take hostages in a bid to force police to allow them to escape.

Police officers stop two people on a scooter at gunpoint as they arrived near the scene of the hostage taking earlier today

The pair are aggressively wrestled to the ground by police officers who were tasked with preventing anyone coming and going from the scene

A building is evacuated by members of the French special forces teams after at least six people were taken hostage by the gunman

A police officer is dressed in body armour as the hostage-taker was believed to be armed with assault rifles

A police officer takes aim upwards as he mans his position at the siege in eastern Paris

Police officers take aim as they huddle behind a car after there were reports the gunman was armed with heavy weapons

Police forces were stretched as they dealt with two hostage situations across Paris simultaneously

Rows of police vans sit parked at the side of the road while a solitary officer stands guard at the outskirts of the cordon

It is not known whether Boumeddiene was in the Kosher store with Coulibaly.

As the two sieges by suspected Islamic terrorists today played out at the same time, fears grew that the jihadis were looking to cause another bloodbath.

Clarissa Jean-Philippe, 27, was unarmed and directing traffic in Montrouge, in south Paris, when she was gunned down by Coulibay on Thursday.

A 20-YEAR-OLD STUDENT HOSTAGE: 'SHE WAS SHOPPING AT THE TIME'

A 20-year-old student was among the hostages taken at the kosher shop in Paris.

The young woman, whose name remains unknown, called her uncle who works nearby from the basement of the building where she was being held.

Jean-Marc Sellam, the business partner of her uncle Patrick Tuile told MailOnline that she had called her uncle 'panicked'.

He said: 'The niece of my associate was taken hostage. I think there were five people taken.

'His niece is about 20 years old. She was shopping at the time. She was allowed to speak to her uncle on the phone. She said she was scared and panicked. Police have now let her uncle go to the scene.'

Mr Sellam added: 'I am shocked. I have been for 48 hours. As long as they keep letting these barbaric people come back from Syria it will keep happening.'

Two of Coulibaly's relatives were arrested in nearby Grigny during a police raid this morning.

Like the Kouachi brothers, he is known to have been radicalised by an Islamic preacher in Paris, before expressing a wish to fight in Iraq or Syria. Both Said Kouachi, 34, and his brother, Cherif Kouachi, 33, were first arrested in 2005.

They were suspected members of the Buttes Chaumont – a group operating out of the 19th arrondissement of Paris and sending terrorist fighters to Iraq.

Cherif was convicted in 2008 to three years in prison, with 18 months suspended, for his association with the underground organisation.

He had wanted to fly to Iraq via Syria, and was found with a manual for a Kalashnikov – the automatic weapon used in Wednesday’s attack.

Dozens of police officers (pictured) surrounded the kosher bakery, where a gunman took many people hostage in a raid that ended in the deaths of four innocent people

Police cordons (pictured) were established to surround the kosher bakery, where women and children were among those held captive

Three officers mobilise in the Port de Vincennes area after what is France's second hostage situation to break out in the same day

A large shield and a pole used for breaking down doors are wheeled to the scene

Said was freed after questioning by police, but – like his brother – was known to have been radicalised after the Iraq War of 2003, when Anglo-American forces deposed Saddam Hussein.

Both brothers were said to be infuriated by the killing of Muslims by western soldiers and war planes.

Vincent Olliviers, Cherif’s lawyer at the time, described him as initially being an ‘apprentice loser - a delivery boy in a cap who smoked hashish and delivered pizzas to buy his drugs.

But Mr Ollivier said the ‘clueless kid who did not know what to do with his life met people who gave him the feeling of being important.’

After his short prison sentence, Cherif was in 2010 linked with a plot to free Smain Ait Ali Belkacem, the mastermind of the1995 bombing of the St Michel metro station in Paris that killed eight people and wounded more than 100 more.

Belkacem was a leading members of the GIA, or Armed Islamic Army – an Algerian terror outfit responsible for numerous atrocities.

The Kouachi brothers, who are orphans, were radicalised by an Iman operating in northern Paris.

They were raised in foster care in Rennes, in western France, with Cherif training as a fitness instructor before moving to Paris.

They lived in the 19th arrondissement and were radicalised by Farid Benyettou, a janitor-turned-preacher who gave sermons calling for jihad in Iraq and suicide bombings.

His Buttes-Chaumont recruitment group, named after a Paris park, sent at least a dozen young men to fight in Iraq.

The Kouachis share similar backgrounds to Mohammed Merah, the 23-year-old French Algerian responsible for murdering seven people, including four Jews and three Muslim soldiers, in the Toulouse area in 2012.

Merah, who was himself shot dead by police, had also been left to operate as a terrorist in France, despite the authorities knowing he had trained with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Last year Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old French Algerian, was arrested in Marseille in connection with an attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels which left four people dead. He denies any crimes, and is currently on remand in Belgium.

SUSPECTED HOSTAGE TAKER A 'CLOSE ASSOCIATE' OF THE KOUACHI BROTHERS

The hostage taker of the Paris terror attack is a close associate of the Kouachi brothers, who killed 12 people in the Charlie Hebdo massacre two days ago and died earlier today in a shootout with police.

Sources in the Paris police said the suspected murderer Amedy Coulibay, 32, was wearing body armour and brandishing two Kalashnikov automatic weapons.

It's thought that he was of Senegalese origin and attended the Addawa Mosque in Paris with the Kouachi brothers.

As part of a jihadist cell with Said and Cherif Kouachi, he was involved in the failed prison break attempt of Smain Ait Ali Belkacem - the mastermind behind a wave of bombings in France in 1995 which killed eight people and wounded 120.

Coulibay, who was himself jailed in 2010 for his involvement in the plot, had a long history of both petty and serious crimes.

The only boy born in a family of 10 in Juvisy, Essonne, he first came to police attention as a 17-year-old delinquent.

Convictions for theft and drug offences followed. In September 2002 in Orleans, Loiret, he was arrested for the armed robbery of a bank.

It's believed he became involved with the younger of the Kouachi brothers, Cherif, when he was part of a jihadist recruitment ring in Paris that sent fighters to join the conflict in Iraq.

Kouachi was subsequently sentenced to three years in prison.

Coulibaly is thought to have become radicalised when he came under the influence of Djamel Beghal, a French Algerian convicted of terrorism.

Beghal was once accused of being Osama Bin Laden’s main European recruiter and has been linked with Cherif Kouachi.

Coulibaly admitted to police he saw Beghal every three weeks but purely for ‘religious instruction.’ It is understood that he married Hyat Boumeddiene in a religious ceremony after she waited four years for him to come out of jail following his conviction for armed robbery.

The couple were never married in a civil ceremony – the only marriage legally accepted in France.

Pictured: French media identified this woman as Clarissa Jean-Philippe, the young policewoman who was gunned down as she attended a routine traffic accident in Montrouge at 8am yesterday. Coulibaly is thought to be responsible for her death

FACES OF THE 12 VICTIMS OF THE CHARLIE HEBDO MASSACRE REVEALED

The names of the 12 people killed in cold by blood by three gunmen during a horrifying attack at the Charlie Hebdo offices on Wednesday morning have been revealed.

The dead include eight editorial staff, one worker, one visitor, one policeman, who was on the cartoonists' security detail, and one policeman who was shot dead on the street.

Heroic Muslim police officer Ahmed Merabet, who was executed by a terrorist gunman on the streets of Paris while he begged for his life.

Shocking footage of the attack on the Charlie Hebdo office shows Mr Merabet on the ground and begging for mercy as he is killed casually by a gunshot to the head. Witnesses say he asked 'do you want to kill me?' before the gunman replied 'OK, chief'.

It is understood that Mr Merabet was a married Parisian cycle cop assigned to the 11th arrondissement – the Paris neighbourhood where Charlie Hebdo’s office is located and known for its dining and fine wines.

As the French magazine vowed to publish next week in defiance of the massacre, one French mourner wrote: 'Ahmed Merabet died protecting the innocent from hate. I salute him.'

Elsa Cyat was the only woman to die in the massacre, while policeman Ahmed Merabet was shot dead in the streets

The second police officer to be killed in the attack was Franck Brinsolaro, 49, a brigadier and protection officer for the magazine's editor Stephane Charbonnier.

The married 49-year-old lived in Bernay, France, and was the father of two children. His wife, Ingrid Brinsolaro, is editor of the Awakening Normand, Bernay, a newspaper that belongs to the group Publihebdos, as Hebdo de Sevre et Maine.

The team at Publihebdos have released a statement regarding the killing.

It read: 'Publihebdos teams are in shock after the cowardly attack and great seriousness that hit Charlie Hebdo today.

'This barbaric attack left many victims including a downed police was the husband of Ingrid Brinsolaro, our editor at Bernay. We are devastated and very sad.'

Mr Charbonnier, the defiant editor whose satirical newspaper dared to poke fun at everything from religion to feminism and spoke out fiercely against political correctness, was another of the 12 victims.

Just two years ago, the 47-year-old - nicknamed Charb - declared: ‘I am not afraid of retaliation. I have no children, no wife, no car, no credit,’ he said after receiving death threats two years ago. ‘It perhaps sounds a bit pompous, but I’d rather die standing than live on my knees.’

Mr Charbonnier, who took over as editor in 2009, grew up in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, northern France and joined Charlie Hebdo in the early 1990s as a designer.

The magazine's cartoonists were also targeted by the gunmen in the attack.

Jean ‘Cabu’ Cabut, the magazine’s 76-year-old lead cartoonist was an almost legendary cultural figure in France.

Known by the nickname ‘Cabu’, he was renowned for his quick wit and youthful style. He was also notorious for his drawing of Mohammed, which sparked fury after adorning the cover of Charlie Hebdo in 2006.

Despite all the controversy, Mr Cabut was insistent that art should not be constrained. Perhaps his most famous quote was: ‘Sometimes laughter can hurt – but laughter, humour and mockery are our only weapons.’

Georges Wolinski, an 80-year-old who was as renowned for his colourful home life as he was for being a ‘master of satirical illustration’.

Married twice, he once joked about his dying wish, saying: ‘I want to be cremated. I said to my wife, “if you throw the ashes in the toilet, I get to see your bottom every day”.’

Six of the Charlie Hebdo journalists and staff members killed in yesterday's attack are pictured together in this photo, taken in 2000. Circled top from left is Philippe Honore, Georges Wolinski, Bernard Maris and Jean Cabut. Below them on the stairs, from left, is editor Stephane Charbonnier and cartoonist Bernard ‘Tignous’ Verlhac

Mr Wolinski was born in Tunis on June 28, 1934 to a Franco-Italian mother and a Polish Jewish father. He joined Hara-Kiri with Cabu in 1960 and became renowned for his cartoons, which spoofed politics and sexuality.

Bernard ‘Tignous’ Verlhac, was a renowned pacifist. The 57-year-old Parisian had been drawing for the French press since 1980 and originally made his name on comic publication L’idiot international.

Mourners were also last night paying tribute to Philippe Honore, a regular contributor to Charlie Hebdo who specialised in ‘literary puzzles’. The 73-year-old was born in Vichy, central France, and was first published aged just 16.

Victim Bernard Maris was a Left-wing economist, known to readers as ‘Uncle Bernard’. Heartbroken friends said the 68-year-old was a ‘cultured, kind and very tolerant man’.

Mourners were also last night paying tribute to Philippe Honore, a regular contributor to Charlie Hebdo who specialised in ‘literary puzzles’. The 73-year-old was born in Vichy, central France, and was first published aged just 16.

Victim Bernard Maris was a Left-wing economist, known to readers as ‘Uncle Bernard’. Heartbroken friends said the 68-year-old was a ‘cultured, kind and very tolerant man’.

Also killed was Michel Renaud, who did not work for Charlie Hebdo, but had been invited to the magazine’s offices as guest editor. He was the founder of ‘Rendez-vous de Carnet de Voyage’, a travel-themed art festival.

It has been reported that the final two victims are Frédéric Boisseau, a maintenance worker, and Elsa Cayat.

Ms Cayat, the only female victim of the gunmen, was a columnist and analyst for the magazine, according to Le Figaro.

Post mortems will be held on Thursday, according to reports citing the prosecutor of Paris, François Molins.